ישעיהו, פרק ה׳, פסוק י׳

The relentless pursuit of real estate and land accumulation ultimately ends in an ironic agricultural disaster. A divine curse strikes the very fields and vineyards the wealthy so deeply coveted, turning the earth almost completely barren. This punishment operates as an exact measure for measure for stealing the fields of the poor or withholding the agricultural tithes that rightfully belong to God [רש״י, רד״ק]. A bitter irony awaits those who forcefully took over massive territories: they will now require giant tracts of land just to produce a tiny amount of food. In fact, it would have been more beneficial for them to steal houses rather than fields that will simply remain desolate [מלבי״ם].

The barren land and the stolen mansions share a deep, tragic connection. The severe crop failure serves as the primary reason these grand, stolen houses will sit empty, as heavy famine will force the inhabitants to abandon their properties and go into exile [רש״י, רד״ק, מצודת דוד]. Alternatively, the causal relationship operates in reverse. Because the houses will empty out of their inhabitants, there will be no working hands left to till the soil, and this severe lack of farmers is what will lead to the poor crop yields [שד״ל].

The sheer scale of the agricultural ruin is staggering. The curse strikes vast vineyards, measured by the massive area of land that ten pairs of oxen can plow in a single workday [רש״י, רד״ק, שד״ל, מצודת ציון, אברבנאל, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Another perspective suggests that the number ten simply indicates a large amount, while the concept of a pair hints at how the wicked forcefully attached and joined many separate vineyards together through trespassing [אבן עזרא, מלבי״ם]. Yet, despite its enormous size, the entire vineyard will yield only one small liquid measure of wine, containing a mere three seah [רש״י, מצודת ציון, אברבנאל].

The grain fields suffer an equally devastating fate. A farmer might plant a massive volume of seeds, known as a homer or a kor, which contains ten ephah. However, the cursed earth will yield only a single ephah of grain, a dry measure exactly equal in volume to the tiny liquid measure produced by the vineyards [אבן עזרא, שד״ל, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The final outcome is a fatal blow to the farmers, as the land will ultimately produce only one-tenth of the seeds originally invested into the soil [שד״ל, ביאור שטיינזלץ].